A 56-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting another man following a dispute at an encampment in Geer Park in August.
Salem detectives arrested 56-year-old Thomas Patrick Healy Wednesday morning in Bend, with assistance from Bend police and the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team.
Police responded to Geer Park just before 3 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27 after receiving a call about a gunshot wound.
Officers found 35-year-old Scott George Tanner dead in the parking lot.
“Officers learned a dispute occurred between the two men at an encampment in the park which ended with Healy shooting Tanner,” Salem police said in a news release Wednesday. “Healy immediately fled the area. During the course of the investigation, detectives were able to locate Healy in central Oregon.”
Healy was indicted by a Marion County Grand Jury Sept. 15 and faces charges of second-degree murder, felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon, police said.
Court records show Healy has previous felony convictions for burglary in Marion County and Lincoln County in 2016.
Healy is lodged in the Deschutes County Jail and is being held without bail, according to the jail roster. He is listed as pending transfer on an out-of-county warrant.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
